Hunter Wendelstedt was in the middle of a couple of controversial plays on Tuesday, which always seems to be bad news for the Twins.
Wendelstedt, famous in Minnesota for his long series of disagreements with former manager Ron Gardenhire, made a pair of calls on Tuesday that left current manager Rocco Baldelli wondering. First, he called a balk on starter Jose Berrios in the sixth inning; then he changed his call on a close play at second base, a play that left the Twins frustrated.
The balk allowed Atlanta's Matt Joyce to score from third base, and Ender Inciarte to move to second, where he scored moments later on Ronald Acuna's single. Berrios, who had balked only once before in his career, held the ball for a long time on the mound while looking toward the plate. The pitcher said afterward that Wendelstedt told him "I was kind of showing my grip and I kind of moved my hand a little bit. He saw it, so he called balk."
Berrios stood and stared at Wendelstedt for several seconds after the call, and after the game, Baldelli said he wasn't certain the call was correct because he believed the pitcher hadn't "come set," or stopped all movement, as he waited to pitch.
"Talking to [catcher Mitch Garver], Jose wasn't getting the signs at that moment, so he wasn't coming set in any way. If he's not getting the signs, he can't come set," Baldelli said. But the manager cautioned that he hadn't talked to Berrios about it, that he was looking down when the call was made, and that he hadn't watched tape of the play yet.
"I'll probably go back and check it out later," he said.
In the ninth inning, another play entangled Wendelstedt and Baldelli. With Charlie Culberson on first base and two outs, Acuna hit a ground ball toward shortstop Luis Arraez. The grounder was routine, but the play was not: Acuna's bat broke, and the barrel bounced toward Arraez. He made the play while trying to avoid the bat, and flipped the ball to second baseman Jonathan Schoop.
Culberson appeared to beat the throw, but Wendelstedt signaled he was out. Schoop, assuming the call would be safe, quickly relayed the throw to C.J. Cron at first base, but Cron, having seen the out call, was no longer on the bag, so the Twins had no chance to retire Acuna. Still, the Twins began jogging off the field, believing the inning was over — but Wendelstedt corrected the call to safe.
Trouble is, the incorrect call cost the Twins a chance to end the inning, as Baldelli quickly emerged to point out.
"Schoop made a heads-up play, making the throw to first just in case the call was safe. Because he doesn't know," Baldelli said. "But C.J. had a different line of sight, and saw the out call. Once the out call was made, C.J. started to back up because the inning was over."
So what can the Twins do when the umpire makes that mistake? Not much, as Baldelli found out.
"Hunter just said he was correcting himself. The ruling he made on the field, he changed. Really, there's no recourse for us at that point," Baldelli said, because if the incorrect call had stood, the Braves could simply have challenged and overturned it. "Once we didn't have the play at first base, we're king of in no-man's land, and there's nothing we can do about it."
Ultimately, the call didn't matter, because Zack Littell struck out Ozzie Albies to end the inning, and the Twins went on to lose, 12-7.
